Mortgage & Refinancing Information

Refinancing Your Mortgage Can Really Save You Money


Refinancing a mortgage is simply taking out a new mortgage. It means paying off one or more old debts by getting a new loan. Sometimes, refinancing your mortgage can really save you money. You may be able to pay less interest, lower your monthly payment, or convert from a 30-year loan to a 15-year loan and build your equity faster. But be sure that refinancing is right for you.

1. Refinancing can be a good idea for you if you:

- want to get out of a high interest rate loan to take advantage of lower rates. This is a good idea only if you intend to stay in the house long enough to make the additional fees worthwhile.

- have an adjustable-rate mortgage and want a fixed-rate loan to have the certainty of knowing exactly what the mortgage payment will be for the life of the loan.

- want to convert to an adjustable-rate mortgage with a lower interest rate or more protective features.

- want to build up equity more quickly by converting to a loan with a shorter term.

- want to draw on the equity built up in your house to get cash for a major purchase or for your children's education.

2. Some situations where refinancing your mortgage can really save you money:

- refinancing your higher interest rate unsecured loans with lower interest rate unsecured loans if the terms of the loans are comparable and the new rate is lower than the existing rate.

- refinancing your secured debts (such as your mortgage or car loan) if the new loan is for the same length of time left on your old loan (or shorter), and the interest rate on the new loan is substantially lower than the interest rate on your existing loan.

- refinancing your home to pay-off expensive car loans or credit cards provided you're not in financial difficulty and not at risk of losing your home.

Mortgage refinancing can be worthwhile, but it does not make good financial sense for every homeowner. A general role of thumb is that refinancing becomes worth your while if the current interest rate on your mortgage is at least 2 percentage points higher than the prevailing market rate. This figure is generally accepted as the safe margin when balancing the costs of refinancing a mortgage against the savings.

Sometimes, refinancing is an appropriate way to resolve financial problems. In some situations, however, refinancing can make existing financial problems worse. If you decide that refinancing is not worth the costs, ask your lender whether you may be able to obtain all or some of the new terms you want by agreeing to a modification of your existing loan instead of a refinancing.

Copyright © 2005. Chileshe Mwape writes for the Mortgage Lender Guide at: http://www.lending-guide.org/ which offers informative articles about mortgages and loans.

This article may be reprinted as long as all the above links are active and clickable.


MORE RESOURCES:

Wachovia Posts Loss, Exits Wholesale Origination Business
Mortgageorb, CT - Jul 22, 2008
By MortgageOrb.com on Tuesday 22 July 2008 Consistent with previously announced expectations, Charlotte, NC-based Wachovia Corp. has reported a net loss in ...


DEBT ADVISOR
Columbia Daily Tribune, MO - Jul 21, 2008
Second, your mortgage-refinance issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Many people don’t know a negative credit history also will hurt you if you have to ...


Market rescue, round two
Livemint, India - Jul 14, 2008
The stocks of the two mortgage refinance institutions fell to levels last seen 15 years ago on concerns about their bearing the brunt of the exposure to ...


Tips on obtaining money through refinancing
Fall River Herald News,  USA - Jul 3, 2008
Here are a couple of pointers for those considering mortgage refinance to take cash out of their home: The traditional way of judging the market value of a ...


Reuters

Foreclosure-rescue legislation benefits both borrowers, lenders
Arizona Republic, AZ - Jul 12, 2008
by Julie Hirschfeld Davis - Jul. 13, 2008 12:00 AM AP The foreclosure-rescue legislation moving through Congress would let financially strapped homeowners ...
US housing agency expands mortgage aid program Reuters
all 81 news articles


HUD Bolsters Foreclosure Prevention in Detroit Area, Announces ...
DSNews.com, TX - Jul 10, 2008
Preston's Detroit announcement comes on the heels of a Tuesday conference call, where HUD announced the expansion of its FHASecure mortgage refinance ...


Refinance.com Expands National Footprint
Business Wire (press release), CA - Jul 7, 2008
... mortgage applications in Arkansas, New Hampshire and New Mexico, further expanding its national footprint as a leading mortgage refinance lender. ...


Don't Blame Canada
Conde Nast Portfolio, NY - Jul 9, 2008
Did Alan Greenspan get a commission on your mortgage refinance? Why would anyone think that war spending is an economy killer? ...


Best Syndication

Low Credit Score Home Mortgage Loan Refinancing
Best Syndication, CA - Jun 30, 2008
In any case, what you need to do is make sure that the terms of the mortgage refinance loans that you are being offered match your needs and will produce ...


Inside Wall Street: That Ticking Sound You Hear Out in the ...
istockAnalyst.com, OR - Jul 18, 2008
The fundamentals of economic strife based on the disastrous collapse of the US housing market will not get better any time soon. ...

Mortgage-Refinance - Google News

home | site map
© 2006